forcible in the Arabic language, and one of the elder women, who was rather severe and relentless-looking, on hearing it, said, "Are you obliged to say that every day?" as if she thought sometimes it would be difficult to do so. They said, "Are you a Moslem?" I answered, "I am not called a Moslem. But I am your sister, made by the same God, who is the one only God, the God of all, my Father and your Father." They asked me if I knew the Koran, and were surprised to hear that I had read it. They handed a rosary to me, saying, "Do you know that?" I repeated a few of the most striking and comprehensive attributes very carefully and slowly. Then they cried out, "Mash-Allah! the English girl is a true believer;" and the impressionable, sensitive-looking Abyssinian slave girls said, with one accord, "She is, indeed, an angel."

After talking with them for some time, and answering as clearly as I could their earnest, shrewd, and child-like questions, I said "Good-night" once more. So they kissed me, and smoothed my pillow. But, though I was fatigued bodily, my mind was so thoroughly aroused and interested, that I could not immediately sleep. I watched the women resting under bright colored quilts, with their heads on low, silken pillows. The lantern on the stool, in the middle of the room, lighted up the coins and jewels on their head-dresses. Now and then, one of the infants cried, and its mother, or a slave, rose to quiet it, and it was fed without being taken from its hammock. The mother stood upright, while the slave inclined the hammock toward her a few minutes, and then there was silence again. The room was very close and warm, and the faces of some of the sleepers were flushed. At last I slept also.-English Travels.

ONE PAIR OF STOCKINGS.

An old wife sat by her bright fireside,
Swaying thoughtfully to and fro,
In an ancient chair whose creaky craw
Told a tale of long ago;

While down by her side, on the kitchen floor,

Stood a basket of worsted balls-a score.

The good man dozed o'er the latest news
Till the light of his pipe went out,
And, unheeded, the kitten with cunning paws,
Rolled and tangled the balls about;
Yet still sat the wife in the ancient chair,
Swaying to and fro in the fire-light glare.

But anon a misty tear-drop came
In her eye of faded blue,

Then trickled down in a furrow deep,

Like a single drop of dew;

So deep was the channel-so silent the stream

The good man saw naught but the dimmed eye beam.

Yet he marveled much that the cheerful light

Of her eye had weary grown,

And marveled he more at the tangled balls;
So he said, in a gentle tone,

"I have shared thy joys since the marriage vow,
Conceal not from me thy sorrows now."

Then she spoke of the time when the basket there Was filled to the very brim,

And now there remained of the goodly pile

But a single pair, for him.

"Then wonder not at the dimmed eye-light,

There's but one pair of stockings to mend to-night.

"I cannot but think of the busy feet,
Whose wrappings were wont to lie
In the basket awaiting the needle's time-
Now wandered so far away;

How the sprightly steps, to a mother dear,
Unheeded fell on the careless ear.

"For each empty nook in the basket old,
By the hearth there's an empty seat;
And I miss the shadows from off the wall,
And the patter of many feet;

"Tis for this that a tear gathered over my sight,
At the one pair of stockings to mend to-night.

"Twas said that far through the forest wild,
And over the mountains bold,

Was a land whose rivers and darkening caves,
Were gemmed with the rarest gold;

Then my first-born turned from the oaken door,
And I knew the shadows were only four.

"Another went forth on the foaming waves,
And diminished the basket's store;
But his feet grew cold-so weary and cold—
They'll never be warm any more;

And this nook in its emptiness seemeth to me,
To give forth no voice but the moan of the sea.

"Two others have gone toward the setting sun,
And made them a home in its light,
And fairy fingers have taken their share,
To mend by the fireside bright;

Some other baskets their garments fill;
But mine! O, mine is emptier still!

"Another-the dearest-the fairest-the best-
Was taken by angels away,

And clad in a garment that waxeth not old,
In a land of continual day.

O, wonder no more at the dimmed eye-light,

While I mend the one pair of stockings to-night!"

COLONEL HAYNE AND HIS SON.

Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, a man of high character, endeared to all who knew his worth, and bound fast to life by six small children, and a wife tenderly beloved, was taken prisoner by the British and sentenced to be hanged. His wife, falling a victim to disease and grief combined, did not live to plead for her husband; but great and generous efforts were made for his rescue. A large number, both Americans and Englishmen, interceded in his behalf; the ladies of Charleston signed a petition for his release; and his six motherless children were presented on their knees, as humble suitors for the life of their father. It was all in vain; for war has no heart but of iron. His eldest son, a lad about thirteen years old, was permitted, as a special favor, to stay with him while in prison. On seeing his father loaded with irons, and condemned to die on the gallows, the poor boy was overwhelmed with consternation and grief. The wretched father tried to console him by various considerations, and added, "To-morrow, my son, I set out for immortality; you will follow me to the place of my execution, and when I am dead, take my body and bury it by the side of your dear mother."

Overcome by this appeal, the boy threw his arms around his father's neck, crying, "O my father, I'll die with you! I will die with you, father!" The wretched father, still loaded down with irons, was unable to return his son's embrace, and merely said in reply, "No, my son, never! Live to honor God by a good life; live to serve your country, and to take care of your brother and little sisters."

That

The next morning Colonel Hayne was led forth to execution. fond and faithful boy accompanied him; and when they came in sight of the gallows, the father turned to him, and said, "Now, my son, show yourself a man. That tree is the boundary of my life, and all its sorrows. Beyond that, 'the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are forever at rest.' Don't, my son, lay our separation too much at heart; it will be short at the longest. It was but the other day your dear mother died; to-day I die; and you, my son, though young, must follow us shortly." "Yes, my father," replied the broken-hearted boy, "I shall follow you shortly; for I feel, indeed, that I can't, can't live long!"

And so it was; for, on seeing his much-loved father first in the hands of the executioner, and then struggling in the halter from the gallows, he stood transfixed with horror. Till then, he had all along wept profusely, as some relief to his agonized feelings; but that sight!-it dried up the fountain of his tears; he never wept again. His reason reeled on the spot; he became an incurable maniac; and in his last moments he called out, and kept calling out, for his father, in tones that drew tears from the hardest hearts.

SAMUEL SLATER ON EXTRAVAGANCE.

Mr. Samuel Slater's habits of living, were often the topic of remark among his townsmen. On a certain occasion this subject was made the staple of quite an interesting conversation between himself and a few of his intimate friends, when he was a little more than fifty years of age, and

estimated to be worth half a million of dollars. It was in the front room of the bank, where they were accustomed to meet and discuss all sorts of things of interest. At that time he lived in an old wooden house, which might have cost two or three thousand dollars-decent and comfortable, it is true, and much like the better sort of houses in the village, excepting, perhaps, half a dozen. He also owned a good horse and chaise, the common pleasure vehicle at that period in many parts of New England. His friends told him it was not right for a man of his property to live in that style that he ought to build a better house, and keep a coach.

Mr. Slater replied much in the following manner: "Gentlemen, I admit that I am able to have a large and costly house, rich furniture, and servants to take care of it; that I am able to have a coach, with a driver and footman to attend me. And it is not that I am miserly, that I do not have them. But it is a duty in me to set an example of prudence to others, and especially to my children. The world is too much inclined to extravagance. If the style you recommend is to be considered an evidence of wealth, and I were on that account to adopt it, others not able might follow my example, in order to be thought rich. In the end it might prove their ruin, while prudent and honest people would have to suffer for it. And you know I have six boys. If they live, and have families, each will want to live in as much style as his father. Now, if I am able to live as you recommend, my property, when divided into six parts, might not be sufficient to support six such establishments; besides, business may not continue as good as it is at present. I wish to set a good example for my children. If they do not follow it, the fault is not mine."

THE INFIDEL AGREEING WITH PAUL.

An admirable reply was once made by a careful reader of the Bible to an infidel, who attacked him with such expressions as these:

"That the blood of Christ can wash away our sin, is foolishness; I don't understand or believe it."

The Bible student remarked, "You and Paul agree exactly."

The infidel replied with much surprise, "How is this, that Paul and I agree?"

Said the student, "Turn to the first chapter of first of Corinthians, and read at the 18th verse."

The infidel read, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God.""

The infidel hung his head, and ever after studied the Bible, and soon believed it to be God's power unto salvation.

THE KALEIDOSCOPE.

MARVELS OF THE MICROSCOPE.

Miracles instead of marvels, we are almost warranted in calling the wonders of creation, animate and inanimate-mites made monsters by the magic microscope. Once Sir Isaac Newton expressed an opinion, that the utmost limit of magnifying power would be twenty five diameters. How far behind realized facts fall the predictions of England's profound philosopher. To-day we have microscopic power capable of enlarging objects to our vision more than a billion times-ten hundred million times, as we enumerate, larger and more distinct than they appear to the unaided eye. But microscopic instruments of power so vast are adapted only to the wants of scientific savans. What we every-day people need, and what every family, every farmer, gardener, fruit grower, baker, brewer, every house wife, school boy and girl every where ought to have, is a microscope magnifying from twenty-five to four hundred diameters. For all every day practical purposes, the lower power is most useful and entertaining. With it, if it be a good one of the Craig pattern, a boy or girl of ten years, or even younger than that, may seize upon a fly, flea, bed bug, mote, or mite, clap it under glass, and lo! what a marvel is presented! What a magic revelation of God's creative power comes instantaneously under the observant eye! What to the unaided vision was but a mere speck, or uninteresting insect, stands there two hundred times enlarged, every feature distinctly visible, its entire organism revealed. An hour's study of insects thus presented under the Craig Microscope, is worth more to any man, woman or child than six month's reading of entomological books; because, under the glass, you have the object presented to the eye enlarged, and exactly as it really is, while in reading a description of the same object, first the writer's meaning may be obscure to our understanding, and secondly, it is very likely he may be telling us what he has only read of himself, instead of having seen.

My Craig Microscope, that cost me but $2.50, has, in the two years that I have had it in service, been of more than $25 real practical value to me, besides all the pleasure its use has afforded, and the fund of useful information obtained through it. By its aid I have detected stale fish, meat, and vegetables in market, that otherwise might have been imposed upon me for good material-arrested incipient sourness in bread, decomposition in butter, and made three milkmen ashamed of dishonest practices. In short, my honest opinion is, that all sorts of people, either in town or country, men and women, masters and misses, can make no more profitable investment, than by sending the price of the Craig Microscope to the maker -Mr.-, upon my word, I don't know the first name.-Well, Mr. Mead, Racine, Wisconsin, and get for it a better instrument than my French one, costing $45. MADELINE.